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| Unionstates in the American Civil War |
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| Territories and D.C. |
The present-day state ofNebraska was still aterritory of the United States during theAmerican Civil War. It did not achieve statehood until March 1867, two years after the war ended. Nevertheless, theNebraska Territory contributed significantly to theUnion war effort.
Pre-Civil War eraNebraska Territory was largely rural and unsettled, at the edge of theAmerican frontier. TheKansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 had established the40th parallel north as the dividing line between the territories ofKansas and Nebraska. It had also repealed theMissouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed settlers in those territories to determine if they would allowslavery within their boundaries. Like the early Kansas settlers, Nebraska residents were commonly migrants from theNorthern United States and chose to exclude slavery from their territory.
Anti-secession feelings ran strong in the fledgling Nebraska Territory.Seward County was originally called Greene County, after a popular U.S. Army general fromMissouri, but afterGeneral Greene joined theConfederacy, the county was renamed forWilliam H. Seward,Secretary of State to PresidentAbraham Lincoln.[1][2]
As the war began in April 1861,Algernon Paddock was serving as the territorial secretary, the highest office. On May 15,Alvin Saunders, a staunchRepublican and supporter of President Lincoln, was sworn in as the formalGovernor of Nebraska Territory. He served in that capacity throughout the war.
No Civil War battles or skirmishes were fought within the territorial borders of Nebraska, nor did Confederate troops attempt to invade the area, but Nebraskans did serve in the Union Army. When the war started,U.S. Regular Army troops were withdrawn fromFort Kearny andFort Randall to serve in more threatened areas, increasing risk to Nebraska settlers from Indian attacks. The Federal government requested that the Nebraska Territory form one volunteerregiment, with some companies supposed to stay behind to protect the territory. The territorial legislature met in special session inOmaha and agreed to raise the requested local defense force. Thus, the1st Regiment Nebraska Volunteer Infantry was formed in June and July 1861, with the futuregovernor of Nebraska and theWyoming Territory,John Milton Thayer, as its firstcolonel. However, the promise was reneged, and the regiment was sent eastward in August to fight theConfederacy.[3]
Serving in the forces underUlysses S. Grant, the 1st Nebraska Infantry participated in the successful attack onFort Donelson inTennessee and then fought at theBattle of Shiloh in April 1862. It then participated in several minor engagements inMissouri andArkansas. In October 1863, the regiment was changed from infantry intocavalry, and was transferred to thefrontier to keep the Plains Indians in check. It was mustered out of the Union Army in 1866.[4]
Later in the war, some of the soldiers who served at Fort Kearny were former Confederates who had changed their allegiance to theUnion, thus becoming "galvanized Yankees".[5]
By the end of the Civil War, more than a third (3,157) of the men of military age in the Nebraska Territory had served in the Union Army. In addition to the 1st Nebraska, the territory raised three other full regiments of cavalry, as well as severalbattalions of militia. Thirty-five Nebraskans were killed in action during the war, while another 204 died of other causes, including disease and accidents.[6]
Today, several active groups exist in the state of Nebraska that trace their organizational ancestry to Nebraskapostwar veterans groups, including theGrand Army of the Republic, theSons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS).[7]
